Dealing with emergencies in St. Charles official’s blood
Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 17, 2013
By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur
HAHNVILLE – St. Charles Parish Senior Emergency Coordinator Jim Polk said that as a teenager, he took it upon himself to choose a career that would help people.
Polk was the youngest of three siblings and said he had a normal upbringing in Luling. He admitted that he may have been something of a troublemaker during his teen years, when skateboarding was his main hobby, but now such behavior is but a distant memory for him.
“I looked around and saw how things can get bad, and in your late teens you’re in that age where you have to decide which way you’re going to go. For me, (what was right) was to do something that helps other people. Something that’s productive to society, where I’m making a difference in the community instead of being a problem in the community,” said Polk.
Polk said it has always been an aspect of his personality to do things to the extreme. He said the same applies now, in his current position with St. Charles Parish.
On his mission to help change lives, Polk decided to become a missionary and took off to Russia. He was stationed in the town of Gorky, which is now named Nizhny Novgorod. Polk lived there for about two years, admid the backdrop of the fall of Communism, a major cultural marker. Polk said this revolution allowed him to see and do many things that Americans would not ordinarily have been allowed to do. It also helped make him more self-reliant.
“It was a great experience, meeting the people, learning the language. Most of the people were friendly. They find out you’re American and want to drag you off the bus, if you’re on a public bus, and bring you to their house, put out the best food, invite the neighbors over,” said Polk.
Though he grew a beard to help protect against the cold, Polk said you could easily tell his nationality from the way he dressed. By the end of his stay, however, he claimed he blended in with the general population. Polk said it had something to do with the influence of American culture.
“By the time I left, I saw it change in just that short period of time. Everyone was wearing Nike shoes, Levi jeans, Chicago Bulls starter jackets, so I blended right in by the time I left,” he said.
Polk said it was nice to come back home to that “good Louisiana cooking,” though.
Upon his return home, Polk continued to search for a profession that would allow him to make a difference in the lives of the public. After a stint in private security for a while, a friend recommended that he apply for a position in public works with St. Charles Parish in 1997. The third time proved to be the charm for Polk, who has since worked his way up the ladder.
Polk said two of his favorite aspects of his current position are the ability to associate with others in positions that affect the public and handling real-time emergencies.
“Meeting other professionals on the state and federal level, understanding how everything operates during major emergencies, then actually handling an emergency while it’s happening. I don’t really enjoy the emergency itself, but actually the management of it is the kind of atmosphere that I thrive in,” he said.
Though he said his response to emergency situations has a lot to do with his personality, Polk credits some of his calmness to his previous work as a volunteer fireman with the Luling Volunteer Fire Department. Polk said he was still volunteering up until very recently.
“You deal with true life and death situations. Realizing that you have to make the correct decisions pretty quickly that affect people’s lives … I liked doing it. I felt like I did it fairly well, and it brings me satisfaction that I can go to a chaotic scene and make it peaceful, eventually,” said Polk. “That was kind of how I got my introduction to the emergency field and kind of led me to this road I’m on now.”
Polk said he as able to cross-train in law enforcement with the St. Charles Sheriff’s Department because of experience in the emergency response field, a move he said was a “real good partnership” in public services. Polk is a commissioned deputy, assisgned to the Homeland Security unit of the special operations division, and the special response team.
Polk was also recently elected as president of the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association, a statewide, nonprofit support organization in the field of emergency response. In conjunction with his LEPA post, Polk was appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to serve on the state’s Louisiana Emergency Response Commission as a representative of LEPA in April. Polk said he is thankful and honored by his recent appointments.
Polk said he is fortunate to work with a parish that puts so much emphasis on emergency management and provides support for its citizens. To help facilitate disaster situations, he recommends that the public sign up for the parish’s emergency notifications, understand potential threats, and develop an emergency plan for any situation ahead of time
“Sometimes you don’t see the importance of having emergency management until you have an emergency, and there’s no one there to manage it. Do some personal planning on your own. There are lots of good resources out there,” he said.